Due to the ever increasing development of applications using an integrated circuit, more and more card elements including an integrated circuit need to be produced. In order to satisfy the demand, a method is required which enables an integrated circuit to be attached extremely quickly onto a card element. The flip-chip technique is therefore used, in which the active face of the integrated circuit with the connection terminals of the integrated circuit is applied directly on the terminals of an electrical circuit produced beforehand on a support. In addition, the integrated circuit is attached on the support by a sealing resin applied between the active face of the integrated circuit and the support.
“The patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,296 concerns a card including an integrated circuit module into which a reinforcement element is introduced, surrounding the module in order to protect it. The reinforcement element is inserted in one or more layers of the card. The reinforcement element reduces the forces applied to the integrated circuit during flexions and torsions of the card. Nevertheless, this type of reinforcement element does not protect the active side of the integrated circuit, especially during the manufacturing process”.
In the current manufacturing techniques, card elements, especially when the card element is intended to form part of a card used in an electronic terminal, whether a contact card or a contactless card, the support of the integrated circuit is generally thin or flexible resulting in a risk of damage to the integrated circuit when the card element is subject to mechanical stress, for example bending or torsion stress. The various treatments and the various handling operations applied to the integrated circuit during manufacture and positioning on the card element are likely to create in the inactive side of the integrated circuit, opposite the active side, incipient breaks which reduce the bending strength of the integrated circuit.